


The Ark Cafeteria

by how_about_no



Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: Canon Compliant, First Kiss, First Meetings, Fluff, M/M, One Shot, The Ark Station
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-31
Updated: 2016-05-31
Packaged: 2018-07-11 11:36:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,656
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7048087
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/how_about_no/pseuds/how_about_no
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Miller met Bryan.</p><p>How the couple got together back on the Ark, before the chaos.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Ark Cafeteria

**Author's Note:**

  * For [louise_lynn](https://archiveofourown.org/users/louise_lynn/gifts).



It was just like any other day. Miller, Harper and Josh were messing around in the cafeteria of the ark.

“Harper, _stop!”_ Josh shouted as Harper messed up his hair relentlessly, laughing her ass off. Miller just watched them with a small smile, moving his rations around on his plate. It was harder and harder to eat lately, the rations having been made even smaller, and the guilt for eating them bigger.

“Alright, alright,” Harper moved away, holding her hands up, “Consent if important, I’ll stop.”

“That’s for sex,” Miller stated, “Not abuse.”

“So I don’t need consent to abuse him?” Harper gestured to the boy next to her with her fork, “Because I have a lot of ideas I could implement-”

“No,” Josh said, “You definitely need consent to abuse me. I’m making that a rule.”

“Like that’ll stop her.” Miller finally got a forkful of mashed potato and brought it to his mouth.

“It’s true,” Harper’s voice dropped to a whisper, “I’m unstoppable. Insatiable.”

“Stop using big words. You’ll confuse him.”

“Hey!” Josh protested, “I’m smart.”

“Oh yeah?” Miller tilted his head, “What’s 3 times 7?”

“21.” Harper answered before Josh had even registered the question.

“Not smart.” Miller laughed and held onto his beanie when Josh tried to yank it off, “Okay, losers, I’m going home.”

“You’ve hardly eaten.” Harper commented, but Miller dismissed her with a wave of his hand.

“Not hungry.” Before she could say anything else, Miller stuffed his hands in his jacket pockets and walked away.

On his way back, he passed the market. Every week, the ark would hold these markets where people could trade for luxuries or extra rations. It was useless for people like Miller. He and his father worked their asses off, but could never afford anything extra apart from what they were given. Sometimes Miller would put his sleight of hand to use and steal something of little worth that wouldn’t be missed. Often it would be something his father needed, or a little trinket to add to his room so it felt less like a prison cell.

A small wooden rabbit caught his eye. It was clearly hand crafted, but there were dozens of similar sculptures so Miller decided it wouldn’t be missed too much. He slid one of his hands out of a pocket and swiped it while the owner of the stall was talking to a customer. They didn’t even glance in his direction.

“You didn’t think that was subtle, did you?” A voice came from his right once he was a few steps away from the stall. His stomach dropped, and he prayed it wasn’t a guard. Slowly, he looked at the person who had sidled up to him in the wide corridor.

It wasn’t a guard, thank God. It was a boy. A tall, handsome, smiling boy. He had light brown hair and pale, freckle spotted skin. His eyes were a deep brown and had not scorn, but mischief in them.

“I did, actually.” He finally replied after a few star struck seconds. He gave himself points for not stuttering like an idiot.

“You’re lucky I’m the only one here with a keen eye for pretty, poor boys stealing little wooden rabbits.” The boy laughed slightly, but before Miller could reply he had moved into the crowd. Miller turned to see the boy’s retreating back. He hated to see him leave, but loved to watch him go. Or at least that’s how Miller thought the phrase went.

It was pretty ancient.

 

Miller hated being the messenger. There were so many times when his father needed him to pass on a message he didn’t have time to do himself. It was embarrassing to knock on a door and have the person on the other side either hate the news or be disappointed to have it come from him. Either way, it wasn’t fun.

This time it definitely wouldn’t be.

He had to give a message to someone in the farm station that their kid had been arrested. That was never a situation where the messenger got away without getting cried on or shouted at.

He wasn’t wrong. When he knocked on the door, a huge man answered. He wasn’t just talking muscle, this guy was at least 6 feet tall and looked as if his mother had an affair with a boulder to create him. When Miller told him that his daughter had been arrested for assault, the result was surprising. He cried.

It was the lesser of the two scenarios, but it still wasn’t comfortable to watch. Miller excused himself as quickly as possible. He wasn’t one for comforting, sue him.

On his way out, he saw none other than the wooden rabbit guy. At least, that was what Miller was calling him in his head. He steeled himself and walked up to the boy. His hair was messy, as if he had either just woken up or had been hard at something. He was wearing a faded green T Shirt that had dirt smudges all over it. Miller’s best guess was that he had just been at the ‘fields’ (they weren’t really fields, but they had mud and crops so everyone called them that).

“Are you following me?” He said, leaning against the wall by where the boy was bent over doing his laces up. His head shot up and he lit up with a grin.

“This is where _I_ live. So really, you would be the one following me.” He stood up and towered over Miller. Usually Miller was the one with the physical upper hand in social situations, especially with Harper and Josh, so saying he was out of his element wouldn’t be too much of a stretch.

“I don’t know,” Miller pursed his lips, “If I were following you, I wouldn’t want you to know. I’d do a much better job. A rookie’s mistake would be walking up to the person you’re following.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.” The boy nodded, “I’m Bryan, by the way.”

“Miller. Well,” He shrugged, “Nathan. But if you call me that I’ll have to kill you.”

“Ain’t you a charmer?” Bryan laughed in a way that made Miller feel proud for making that happen. He would very much like to never go a day without hearing that laugh.

“I’m known for my charms,” Miller straightened up and adjusted his beanie, “What are you doing right now?”

“Um,” Bryan shrugged, “Nothing, really.”

“Want to get some dinner?”

“I could eat.” Bryan nodded, his smile widening. Miller felt himself smile back.

 

They stayed in the cafeteria for hours. It turned out Bryan was quite the book nerd, just like Miller. They both loved all of the classics from back on earth. Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, the classic Bane Chronicles. No one was sure if they were fiction or legends, but both Miller and Bryan kind of hoped it was the latter.

“We don’t know anything about secret societies there could’ve been-” Miller stumbled over his words excitedly.

“Exactly! And it’s almost autobiographical-” Bryan’s grin was blinding.

“Plus it would be awesome if there really were people who could still be alive that know what earth was like hundreds of years ago-”

“What I would give to get to talk to Magnus Bane-”

“Alec is my hero!”

“Right?”

Miller hardly noticed that he had eaten his whole meal without another thought.

They laughed into the night, having decided to go for a walk once they were kicked out of the cafeteria for laughing too loud. Bryan told him all about the farm station, and how refreshing it was to work with vegetation when living on a metal contraption in space. His worldview was so optimistic that it made Miller’s heart ache. He had been cynical for such a long time and hadn’t even realised there was another way of looking at things.

Bryan would use huge hand gestures to explain ideas and concepts that had Miller enthralled. To be fair, he might have been staring at Bryan’s face more than concentrating on what he was actually saying. He got most of it. He talked about the stars, and earth, and life. He wanted to feel ground beneath his feet more than anything, and so did Miller. He wondered if they would ever be able to do that together, but quickly stopped that train of thought.

“Curfew, fellas.” A guard stopped them on their wander, and Miller couldn’t believe how fast the time had gone.

“Crap,” Bryan laughed, “I didn’t even realise what the time was. Sorry to keep you with all my rambling.”

“No, don’t worry about it. I liked it.” Miller sighed, “It’s cute.”

“Cute?” Bryan smirked.

“Shut up.” Miller scoffed, scuffing his shoe on the floor, his hands stuffed in his jacket pockets.

“I thought it was cute when I talked!” Bryan teased, and Miller rolled his eyes, already feeling used to the other boy’s antics despite the short time they had known each other.

“Go home, Bryan.”

“Now now, Nathan, no need to get snappy.” Bryan raised an eyebrow, and backed away from Miller’s smack before it could make contact with his arm.

“You’re a di-” Miller didn’t get to finish the sentence because he was interrupted with lips on his own. He melted into the kiss, kind of surprised by Bryan’s confidence, but not at all displeased.

“I’m a what?” Bryan’s hands were cupping Miller’s cheeks, and his grin was nothing other than cheeky.

“Great kisser.” Miller replied.

“That’s right.” Bryan stroked a thumb over his cheekbone before dropping his hands altogether, “Meet me in the cafeteria tomorrow morning?”

“Yes, sir.” Miller said, still in a slight daze.

He dreamt of Bryan’s laugh at the formality that night, before he walked away, the wooden rabbit placed on his mantelpiece, now a reminder of a wonderful first meeting rather than the crime he committed to get it.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading!
> 
> Visit me on tumblr- girlsf0rgirls


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